AH! no pictures yet, I'll upload later but I recently took a small peek and saw a few little white specks on the tube. I believe She's laid some eggs! hopefully they are fertile and become workers. I'll leave her be for a bit and check in another week or so for developments. I'll post some pictures later.

Ok, so far no larva I can see. She seems to have abandoned the two eggs she was caring for, but after moving to a new spot she had lain 4 more. I don't know if the two she abandoned are dead or something, but I hope she cares for these enough for them to survive. I'll probably try to give her a bit more honey to sustain her and try not to stress her out.

Another micro update, I was putting a little bit of honey for her to eat and noticed she moved the two eggs I thought she's abandoned. She moved them near her other eggs and now she has a nice little clump of them. Hopefully most if not all of them will make it, the nest seems to be consuming water and I hope some workers appear before the water runs out. I would like to not have to transfer her and her brood into a new tube if her current one runs dry. Of course I'll let her move on her own by taping the two tubes together, the old dry one and new hydrated one, and keep her in the dark so she feels less stressed.

Another micro update, I was putting a little bit of honey for her to eat and noticed she moved the two eggs I thought she's abandoned. She moved them near her other eggs and now she has a nice little clump of them. Hopefully most if not all of them will make it, the nest seems to be consuming water and I hope some workers appear before the water runs out. I would like to not have to transfer her and her brood into a new tube if her current one runs dry. Of course I'll let her move on her own by taping the two tubes together, the old dry one and new hydrated one, and keep her in the dark so she feels less stressed.

It is most safe to not feed your queens during founding stage. They simply do not need it, and any disturbance can stress them out to the point of eating their own eggs.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

So far not much has changed, she lays eggs but none have seemed to grow into larva. I'll keep her here for a few more weeks, but I'm thinking of letting her go. Bright side is I found what I believe are 2 pavement ant queens in my garage. I knew there was a nest and nuptial flights in there because I always find drones in the spider webs. Glad to see at least 2 survived and might land me a colony.